SE losing war versus Bots and RMTs

[Rillifane]

make a system to scan for client computer and identify bot processes

They had this for lineage 2 and a few other korean MMO's didn't stop the botters from making programs to bypass this so no it won't work, it's just a short term solution that will get bypassed just like any "new" copy protection that got put on old games when they were released, stop people copying them for a short space of time till people found a way around it.

[Morthis]

That might be true for RMT, but for botting there must be a solution, either make a system to scan for client computer and identify bot processes or sit there and catch them manually, wow has it's mining bots also, but amount of bots in ARR is ridiculous.

They probably are fighting against botting, but it's an unwinnable fight, all you can do is mitigate it. If there were some perfect solution that catches all botters without false positives or being an inconvenience to the user base, they would have done it by now.

[complexxL9]

They had this for lineage 2 and a few other korean MMO's didn't stop the botters from making programs to bypass this so no it won't work, it's just a short term solution that will get bypassed just like any "new" copy protection that got put on old games when they were released, stop people copying them for a short space of time till people found a way around it.

I don't really care how they do this, but they should do better then now, ask blizzard for advice if you need, because you rarely run into bots there. And in arr just step outside the city and there are armies of bots gathering.

[Rillifane]

I don't really care how they do this, but they should do better then now, ask blizzard for advice if you need, because you rarely run into bots there. And in arr just step outside the city and there are armies of bots gathering.

Rarely run in to bots in WoW? Do you go around with your eyes closed or something? WoW has a bot problem too, you never seen all the "invisible miners" or the ones that go under the world to mine the nodes?

[Kayo]

Banning alone has never worked. This "special task force" is useless until they do to real preventative measures. SE, most of your customers are incredibly stupid. They make my PC illiterate parents look like software engineers. A million potential idiots not having the security token and/or freely browsing the net with no concern for security measures ... its just impossible to fight directly.

Take a note from Trion (and I believe Blizzard does this as well) have a system that locks account when the users IP changes or shows up at a remote location far from where it was before. Trion called it "Coin Lock" where your account characters would not be able to use a ton of the games features until they verified who they were through email or otherwise. Blizzard, IIRC, just completely locks you and and requires you to call. Its simple as that. Sure ... youll still have idiots who lose even their email accounts but it helps tremendously. Have this lockout occur only with accounts that do not have the security app/token applied to their account. No point in further inconveniencing those who have already taken measures to protect their account.

[Juz10y0]

Rarely run into bots with blizzard? People are hacking their flying mounts in panda land and running in air to mine their way to 90. You just don't see it because of flying mounts and all the nodes not being clustered into one area.


Edit: And dont even get me started on the damn arch bots. Let alone the Auction House bots. Half of my damn guild botted and when they were reported blizzard slapped them on their wrist with a 72 hour ban, and they just went right back to it.

You need to stop acting like the grass is greener on the other side, because it honestly isnt.


Edit 2: You think square doesn't take notice to some random retainer having over 7k+ shards on the market board at one time? They are just not vocal about what they do so gil can't be shuffled, and their measures can't be avoided.

[Tupsi]

Funny you mention that, because I heard XI never got it resolved?

Funny, the only issue with XI is LEGIT players using bots and hacks, RMT hasn't been a problem especially of this magnitude since 2005.

[Zer0]

If a character has a sudden change of (x,y) location of any high enough degree = auto ban

if a character is moving above normal posted speed = auto ban

if a character is shouting more then 3 times per 30 secs = global chat mute

if a character is being blacklisted by more then 10 people an hour = auto flag for GM's

It really doesn't seem that hard to be honest, the hard part is they're trying to be all police like sting operation. Get over it and just start banning people.

[Betelgeuzah]

They need to implement some system that bans them automatically, or this will never end.

lol

As long as there is money to be made of course it won't end. It's not a project with some end date. It'll last as long as this game stays online.

[Tupsi]

If a character has a sudden change of (x,y) location of any high enough degree = auto ban
DRG, BLM and MNK have relocation skills that happen as fast as bots do, you'll be autobanning anyone that plays these.

if a character is being blacklisted by more then 10 people an hour = auto flag for GM's
Sometimes you have LS/FC blacklisting competition just because.

It really doesn't seem that hard to be honest

It "doesn't seem hard" yet every company that's been in the business of doing MMOs doesn't seem to do it - why? Because it's not a question of difficulty, it's practicality. They can't just toss things in that will be more of a hindrance than help, I mean even Yoshi stated they went a bit overboard trying to combat RMT before the game went off by making selling stuff to NPCs almost worthless, something you can do perfectly fine in every other MMORPG.